156 quotes
I have given them life instead of death, freedom instead of the cords of superstition, beauty and truth instead of corruption and exploitation.
I don't think necessity is the mother of invention — invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble.
An Autobiography (1977)
Oh dear, I never realized what a terrible lot of explaining one has to do in a murder!
Spider's Web (1956)
Understand this, I mean to arrive at the truth. The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
Every murderer is probably somebody’s old friend.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
The old, you must remember, though considered incapable of action, have nevertheless a good fund of experience on which to draw.
Where large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody.
Endless Night (1967)
I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest.
Weak and kindly people are often very treacherous. And if they’ve got a grudge against life it saps the little moral strength that they may possess.
A Murder is Announced (1950)
We never know the whole man, though sometimes, in quick flashes, we know the true man.
An Autobiography (1977)
I have a certain experience of the way people tell lies.
A Caribbean Mystery (1964)
And if you cast down an idol, there's nothing left.
The Hollow (1946)
Hercule Poirot once taught me in a very dramatic manner that romance can be a by-product of crime.
The ABC Murders (1936)
The impossible cannot have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.
Murder on the Orient Express (1934)
Who is there who has not felt a sudden startled pang at reliving an old experience or feeling an old emotion?
Curtain - Poirot's Last Case (1975)
The happiness of one man and one woman is the greatest thing in all the world.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
Flattery, in Tuppence's opinion, should always be laid on with a trowel where a man is concerned.
N or M? (1941)
What beats me — it always does — is how a man can be so clever and yet be such a perfect fool.
The Pale Horse (1961)
It is the misfortune of small, precise men always to hanker after large and flamboyant women.
The Labours of Hercules (1967)
I know there’s a proverb which says, “To err is human” but a human error is nothing to what a computer can do if it tries.
Hallowe'en Party (1969)